Mary Anne Hobbs is to step down from her BBC Radio 1 show championing new dance music after 14 years.

The DJ is taking up a teaching role at the University of Sheffield’s Union of Students radio station, TV station and newspaper. She said it was an “emotional” decision but she was bowing out “at the very top of my game”.

Hobbs, 46, said: “The great freedom the BBC has given me as a broadcaster has allowed me to help break so many confrontational artists as diverse as Slipknot and Skream, and of course, the whole genre of dubstep in recent times.

“My current Experimental show is in peak condition, it’s never been stronger and although it’s a very emotional decision to leave the show that I love so much, it’s also an optimum moment to bow out at the very top of my game.”

The last of Hobbs’s weekly shows will be broadcast on Thursday September 9 from 2am to 4am. BBC Radio 1 will announce plans for the slot in the coming weeks. The station said the new programme will follow the tradition of providing “distinctive specialist music content”. Hobbs will continue to DJ live, work in film and curate at the Sonar festival in Barcelona.

Ben Cooper, deputy controller of BBC Radio 1, said: “Mary Anne’s passion and energy for her music means she has been an amazing ambassador for Radio 1 in the UK and around the world.